Sawt Falasteen - Boars, Butterflies or Bees? Public to name Papua New Guinea's NRL team

"Rugby league is in our DNA," Prime Minister James Marape said after launching a competition this week for the public to name the side before they join Australia's National Rugby League in 2028.

"It's more than a sport -- it's something that binds us together as a nation."

Suggestions listed on the official competition website include the Boars, the Coastal Thunderhawks and the Chiefs.

But social media has been flooded with other names such as the Huntsmen, the Paradise, the PNG Flying Foxes as well as the Bees and Butterflies.

Papua New Guinea's international rugby league team is called the Kumuls, a local word for the country's distinctive birds of paradise.

The winning name will be unveiled in September, when Papua New Guinea marks 50 years since declaring independence from colonial administrator Australia.

"As we prepare to mark 50 years of independence in 2025, the announcement of our team name will be one of the proudest moments in our history," said Marape.

Rugby league borders on a national obsession in Papua New Guinea, where adults and children play on muddy fields using plastic bottles stuffed with grass.

Promising athletes are snapped up to play professionally in Australia and England.

"By inviting every Papua New Guinean to help us name our team, we are building something that truly belongs to its people," said Andrew Hill, who led the side's bid to join Australia's competition.

Australia is spending US$390 million to establish a Papua New Guinea club in the NRL, an act of sports diplomacy designed to ward off China.

The team will be based in Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby, a hardscrabble city with a reputation for violence and poverty.

Foreign players and their families will be housed in gated compounds and offered broad tax incentives to sweeten the deal and build a competitive squad.

L.AbuAli--SF-PST